Card display rack



June 7, 1960 H. L. HILL 2,939,234

CARD DISPLAY RACK Filed NOV. 5, 1958 INVENTOR. Harry L. Hill WW 2rtorneys United States Patent CARD DISPLAY RACK Harry L. Hill, RedwoodCity, Calif., assignor to Helen L. Hill, San Francisco, Calif.

Filed Nov. 3, 1958, Ser. No. 771,349

6 Claims. (Cl. 40-124) This invention relates to a flexible display rackfor cards and the like, and more particularly to a rack which pro videsa strong support for displaying cards and which may be rolled into arelatively small coil for storage.

It is often desirable to have a card display rack that can be stored ina small space when it is not in use. For example, racks are oftenemployed once a year to display Christmas cards, and the racks are thenstored until the next holiday season. Heretofore, racks which haveprovided a strong support for display cards have been made of relativelyrigid material. However, such racks are bulky and diflicult to store.

In accordance with the present invention and as a brief summary thereof,a display rack that may be stored in a small space and which providesthe desired strong clamping action is obtained by forming the rack of anelongated strip of thin flexible material curved across its width toprovide a concave side and a convex side thereby rendering the stripself-straightening, and by providing clips on said strip which clamp thecard against the concave side of the strip.

The resultant rack is easily rolled into a relatively small coil forstorage in the same manner as the well known flexible steel rules. Whenthe coil is unrolled to form the card display rack, the flexible curvedmaterial tends to be self-straightening and forms a rack from whichcards can be firmly clamped.

Although the thin strip of material is flexible, a surprisingly stronggrip on the card is obtained by providing a clip including a springclamp mounted on the elongated strip with the clamp facing the concaveside of the strip. The outward pressure of the curved sides of the stripand the inward urging of the clamp combine to hold the card securely. InefiFect, the clamp and the opposing curved strip provide a double springclamping action.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of the card display rack with thecards mounted in different positions.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the rack and aclip for holding the cards.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken in the line indicated by 3-3 inFig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the clip and a portion of the rack takenin the line indicated by 4-4 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the card display rack coiled for storageor shipment.

In greater detail, the card display rack is formed of a clip 1 mountedon a strip 2. Most advantageously both the clip 1 and strip 2 are formedfrom spring steel, such as the steel commonly employed for metalmeasuring tapes. Steel is preferred since it is readily available,durable, and provides the flexibility and spring action important in thecard display rack hereof. However, other materials, such as plastic canalso be employed.

As best shown in Fig. 3, strip 2 is curved across its width. Thiscurvature renders the strip relatively selfstraightening. A hole 3 isprovided at an end of strip 2 2,939,234 Patented June 7, 1960 so thatthe strip may be hung on a nail in any convenient location.

Clip 1 has a base 4 with arms 5 of the base wrapped around the strip 2.Base 4 of clip 1 and arms 5 advantageously conform to the shape of strip2 and are frictionally engaged therewith. Since clip 1 is not otherwisesecured to strip 2, the clip can be slid along the length of strip 2 tovarious positions in order to accommodate cards of dilferent sizeswithout overlapping. The frictional engagement of clip 1 withstn'p 2prevents .the clip from sliding unless a substantial amount of force isemployed to move clip 1. Thus clip 1 does not slide on strip 2 unlessforce is applied. However, the force exerted .by a persons hands iseasily .sulficient to move clip 1 to any desired location on strip 2-.

In order to provide an extremely strong clamping action, a spring clamp6 extends from base 4 to hold cards 7 in position. Clamp 6 is disposedon the concave side 8 of strip 2 rather than along the convex side 9. Bythis arrangement, card engaging section 11 presses inwardly on card 7,and the edge areas of concave side 8 of strip 2 press outwardly on thecard thereby providing a double clamping action. As a result, the cardsare held very securely by spring clamp 6.

Advantageously spring clamp 6 has an intermediate portion 12 forming ahump between base 4 and card engaging section 11. This intermediateportion 12 is spaced outwardly from strip 2 so that card engagingsection 11 presses downwardly on a card 7 inwardly from the edge of thecard to provide a secure grip.

Because of the strength of the double spring action provided by clamp 6and the concave side 8 of strip 2, it would be difiicult to insert 'acard between card engaging section 11 and the strip 2. In order toenable the card to be easily slid into clamping position, the free end13 of said clamp 6 is turned outwardly from the strip as illustrated inFig. 4.

Although'the resultant card display rack is relatively rigid andprovides a firm clamping action for the card, the rack can be rolledinto a relatively small coil for storage, as best shown in Fig. 5. Thiscoil is formed by rolling the card display rack with the concave side ofthe strip facing towards the center of the coil.

Referring to Fig. l, a plurality of clips 1 are generally disposed alongthe length of strip 2. This enables the cards 7 to be held in a varietyof positions. For example, the cards may be clamped in the center, orthey can be firmly held at any desired angle merely by inserting acorner of a card 7 underneath the clamp 6. By reversing the direction ofa clip 1, one clip can be employed to hold the top of a card 7 andanother clip to clamp the bottom.

Because of its self-straightening features, strong clamp on cards, andease of storage in the form of a coil, the card display rack is idealfor displaying Christmas cards, memoranda, photographs, newspaperclippings or signs of cut-out letters.

I claim:

1. A card display rack comprising an elongated strip of thin flexiblematerial curved across its width to provide a concave side and a convexside rendering said strip self-straightening, and a clip including aspring clamp mounted on said elongated strip, said clamp lying adjacentthe concave side of said strip.

2. A card display rack comprising an elongated strip of thin flexiblesteel curved across its width to provide a concave side and a convexside rendering said strip selfstraightening, and a clip having a baseand a spring clamp, said base being mounted on said strip, and saidclamp extending from said base adjacent the concave side of said strip.

3. The card display rack of claim 2 in which said ice elongated strip isin the torn; of a coil for ready storage with the concave side of saidstrip facing towards the center of said roll. I

- A A a d pl y; ee comnri ns e'elon e edi st i of thin flexible steelcurved across its widthio provide .a concave side and a convegr side'rgndering said-strip eelfist a h n n a p a in base' i d a sex n clamp,said base bei mounted n sai str nandsai clampextending from said base:adjacent the eoncave side of said strip, with an intermediateportiongof. said clamp being spaced outwardly from said clip to provideaspring clamping action.

"5. A card display rack comprising an elongatediistrip 1 of thinflexible steel curved across its WidfhiO-iplOYid .a concave side and aconvex side rendering saidstrip self-straightening, and a clip having abase and a spring clamp extending from said base, said base beingwrapped around and slidably mount v on said strip, and said spring clamphaving a card engaging section 'lying adjacent said concave side of saidstrip and an intermediate portion of said clamp between said base andsaid card engaging section being spaced outwardly from said strip toprovide a spring clamping action.

6. The card display rack of claim 5 in which said spring clamp has a,free end adjacentsaid card engaging section, said free end being turnedoutwardly from said strip to facilitate the sliding of cards under saidclamp.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS GreatBritain of 1906

